THE HIDING AWAY OF BLESSED ANGUS
Long strove his difficult task to learn,
And failed; and he was stung with scorn.
And failed; and he was stung with scorn.
One morn, in very evil case,
Driven from school, he sought the byre,
And flung himself upon his face,
Sobbing with tearless eyes on fire.
Wishing that he were dead, alas!
Because his world so bitter was.
Driven from school, he sought the byre,
And flung himself upon his face,
Sobbing with tearless eyes on fire.
Wishing that he were dead, alas!
Because his world so bitter was.
And while he sobbed, one drew aside
The straw, and came so stealthily,
The Convent churl, most pitiful-eyed
For a child's trouble sad to see;
He knelt and whispered words of cheer
And hope and comfort in his ear;
The straw, and came so stealthily,
The Convent churl, most pitiful-eyed
For a child's trouble sad to see;
He knelt and whispered words of cheer
And hope and comfort in his ear;
And smoothed with his fingers rough
The tangled curls; and touching there,
He seemed to brush the trouble off,
The slowness that was hard to bear;
He smoothed some tangle of the brain,
And made the difficult lesson plain.
The tangled curls; and touching there,
He seemed to brush the trouble off,
The slowness that was hard to bear;
He smoothed some tangle of the brain,
And made the difficult lesson plain.
The child climbed out of his kind arms,
And hied him to the school-house door.
And free from shame and all alarms
He said his lesson o'er and o'er.
Henceforth, his sluggish brains would be
As clear as crystal verily.
And hied him to the school-house door.
And free from shame and all alarms
He said his lesson o'er and o'er.
Henceforth, his sluggish brains would be
As clear as crystal verily.
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